Las Vegas the Accidental Tourist: A Curmudgeon in Sin City

Penn Jillete is the talkative half of the magic act, Penn and Teller. In fact, he is famous, no notorious for speaking out loud and often. HIs face and Teller's great you from a 20 foot high sign inviting you to go to their show. They are one of those perennial shows that are the staple of the strip.

Teller never liked the kind of magician who gave the impression that the magic was 'real'. Early in his career he admired the great Randi, another magician whose act included showing the audience what the trick was, a no-no in the field.

Like his hero Randi, Penn loves to reveal the illusion to audience so that they won't be 'fooled'. I guess he thinks that the audiences aren't smart enough to know that there is a 'trick'. Like Randi, he also likes to expose other things he thinks are fraudulent, things that are designed to take peoples' money through illusion.

Several of the things that he likes to 'debunk' are things that I know are helpful to people, because I have seen it. They don't meet his criteria so he 'exposes' them, saying they are like the tricks he does so well. EFT, Acupuncture and coaching are three of those things.

However, Pann Jillette is a big man in Vegas. His face, with his partner's is one of the first things you see when existing the airport, in a 20 foot high sign that tells you what a wonderful place Vegas is. My thought is that it is a phony place designed to make people think its fun to lose money while looking bored. Wonder when he is going to debunk Vegas.

Ok, so I am at the Tropicana, going down in the elevator from the 14th floor, looking at the view. On the left is a bunch of turrets that look like the castle at Fantasyland in Disneyland. You won't see me going there. To the right was a mammoth thing, what you see above, that looked kind of like a luxury liner. Not my cup of tea either, but at least not so kitchy.

Then in the middle, right in front of me is something that looks like the Chrysler building. I had seen and been disgusted by the faux Statue of Liberty but had missed what was behind it. Someone pointed out that the whole thing is the New York skyline (smooched together). Ugh. Why not just go to New York?!?

I reminds me of a story my brother told about a woman he dated when he was stationed in San Diego. She was into going to Disneyland every weekend. "But it has a place the is just like the French Quarter", she would say, to which he replied, "I have been to THE French Quarter."

What is it about Americans that they like these imitations? EuroDisney failed, but we have not just one but TWO Disneylands.

1. The airport. Its dumpy and dreary. I had come from RDU and then Dallas, both attractive and vital airports, one small and the other huge. There are slot machines, huge banks of them, all over the place. I didn't see anyone using them and wondered if the overkill was keeping waiting passengers away. I will say that it is the only airport I have been in that has free WiFi. THAT was nice

2. I arrived at midnight, supposedly the time when things are just hopping, but noticed that the people around me both the tourists and the workers seemed less than enthusiastic and not particularly enjoying themselves. I left at midnight on Saturday and it was pretty much the same thing.

3. There is a lot going on on the strip and I must admit that walking it was interesting, but it was not as bright or shiny as I thought it would be. In fact, much of it looked like Times Square before Rudy Guiliani, but with cleaner sidewalks. I didn't see a lot of streetwalkers though, and you can't miss them in Vegas.

4. The hotel I was in was underwhelming. Nice enough place to stay, but I will say that the other guests did not seem to be having a great time. I keep hearing about what party place it is, but I didn't see it.